| Chapter Guide Topic Guide | Personal Health | Disciplines
Your Complimentary Custom Book |
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| Chapter: Aging | ||
| Add View | 26 pp. | Quadagno: Aging (Chapter) |
| This chapter explores several aspects of old age in America: income security, including age discrimination in work and poverty and old age for women and minorities; health and health care issues, including institutionalization and Alzheimer’s disease; and social support, addressing such topics as adjustments to retirement and widowhood, and the government’s role in improving the quality of life in old age. | ||
| Add | 5 pp. | Goleman, “For Many, Turmoil of Aging Erupts in the 50s” (Contemporary) |
| Discusses how reaching the age of 50 brings about several significant shifts in the way in which one’s self and the world are viewed. These changes are partly the result of the number 50 itself, but also due to the onset of physical illnesses, the death of age-mates, and the experience of becoming a grandparent. One consequence is that women become more aggressive and men more emotional as both reject traditional gender roles. | ||
| Add | 20 pp. | The Meanings of Menopause |
| Top | Examines the myths and realities of menopause from both a biological and a sociocultural perspective. Concludes that whether menopause is seen as a problematic time for women is strongly influenced by its cultural meaning. | |
| Add View | 22 pp. | Logue: Old Age and the Right to Die (Essay) |
| That the seriosly ill have the right to die is widely accepted in the United States today, yet actively helping someone to die is illegal in many states and of uncertain legal status in others. This essay argues that, although some risk is inescapable, physician-assisted suicide and ‘‘active’’ euthanasia are necessary if the right to die is to have real meaning. | ||
| Add | 22 pp. | The Social Context of Aging for Women and Men |
| Images of aging women and men in language, the media, and society are explored in terms of a double standard of aging. Looks at role transitions that differentiate women and men such as the so-called empty nest syndrome, retirement, and the acquisition of various caregiver roles such as grandparent and custodian of one’s aging parents. Looks at both personality and structural factors such as poverty to explain differences in psychological well-being in the second half of life. | ||